Three Imaginary Girls - Magnetic Fields

Recommended Viewing: Strange Powers @the NWFF {12/10-12/16}

Imaginary Amie — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:40:35 +0000

I know many of you are probably rabid Magnetic Fields fans, and since the Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields doc got a lot of good buzz at SIFF this year (imaginary liz liked it muchly), I thought y’all would want to know it’s playing at the Northwest Film Forum starting this Friday, December 10th.

An inside look at Stephin and the band from a fan’s perspective (co-director Gail O’Hara spent 10 years filming the band), Strange Powers is packed with up-close-and-personal Stephin Merritt moments, and of course, tons of Magnetic Fields music. Sounds amazing, non?

Let the Magnetic Fields funfest 2010 begin

imaginary liz — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:02:29 +0000

Team imaginary has been counting down to the Magnetic Fields Town Hall two-night residency for months and months... and the wait is finally over. Tonight kicks off their massive double fantasy of Fields-ness and to prepare we've been working on converting our overt joy to somber nods as to not scare those on stage.

Who else in the imaginary circle is headed out to the big show?

Any thoughts on the new album? I have to say I agree with this recent posting on the Tullycraft blog about the similarity of a certain song.

By the way, want to be the luckiest guy on the lower east side with a poster of this artwork on your wall? Mark Gamble, an amazing co.uk designer, has printed a limited run of his above design and he might just have a few left! Thanks to ChrisB and How Fucking Romantic for finding it!

PS - Mark Eitzel is opening so get there early to catch the whole show. It's what Claudia would want you to do.

Best news of the day: NEW Magnetic Fields and Los Campesinos! records hit the shelves

imaginary liz — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:58:33 +0000

It's a big big day my friends. It's so big that as far back as a month ago I had friends emailing me asking if my head was going to explode on this very day. It's not that absurd of a question considering two of my very favoritest bands ever are both releasing brand new full on albums today:

Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
(in town at the Showbox / Market on May 4)

Magnetic Fields - Realism
(in town at Town Hall on Feb 23 and 24)

One saving grace preventing new album overload is that Los Campesinos loaded their entire new effort onto their MySpace page last week (it's their third masterpiece) so that I could listen to it wherever I could find an internet connection (however rickety). It's given me a chance to ease into all the new stuff all demanding priority in my iTunes. Once I get my copy of it on vinyl, the circle will be complete.

The Magnetic Fields tracks have proven a little more elusive. It's all fine though, a mountain of anticipation can be a good thing for a girl.

What new release are you looking forward to?

Imaginary Wishlist: Keenan {framed posters, vinyl, lockets and more}

imaginary keenan — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:22:05 +0000

Shopping for your loved ones can often be a daunting and stressful task. We here in imaginary land love to make your life easier. Here are a few mostly local itemsthat would make me squeal with delight if they popped up under my proverbial tree.

Best news of the day: Magnetic Fields are coming to Seattle

imaginary liz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:42:48 +0000

As imaginary keenan reported last week, there's a new Magnetic Fields album headed our way on January 26, 2010 {thanks to Nonesuch Records}. And as we speculated {and crossed all our fingers for}, the band will hit the road in support of Realism in February and March!

Get your credit card ready... tickets are on sale RIGHT NOW!

Full deets from the email sent to superfans {which I'm sure includes you and all of the cool people we love}:

Let the 69 Love Songs celebrations begin

imaginary liz — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:10:00 +0000

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the release of everyone's favorite weepy, happy, ukulele-infused, wonderful massive concussion of long songs album: 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields. The album set was officially released on September 7, 1999 and the original pressing of 2,500 of the box set sold out within days (per the 69 Love Songs wiki page).

Now, the group has put together a commemoriative re-issue of the set as six 10" records set to release this week. The full, uber-fan description goes as follows (and yes, I along with the rest of you pre-ordered this in May because we just couldn't help ourselves):

Our Noise: The Story Of Merge Records to be released September 22nd

Chris Estey — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:30:48 +0000

mergebook09.jpg

Warning: This is an ecstatic early plug for the upcoming fan-dream book, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label that Got Big and Stayed Small.

As Magnet magazine is quoted, "[Merge] might be responsible for more indie-rock classics than any other label in the past two decades." David Byrne considers their survival "kind of amazing these days." NPR asserts they're "one of the top independent labels in the world." In Our Noise author John Cook shows the letter that Glitterhouse sent to Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance (in Superchunk, of course, and who started the label) originally sent turning down European distribution (it's hilarious, considering what Merge would achieve); to the later days when Mac feels giddy and weird hanging out near Dr. Dre and Springsteen at Coachella.

All I know is that where stacks of my favorite records have drifted into corners of my apartment, there are piles that specifically look like a shuffled Merge release history. Superchunk, Neutral Milk Hotel, Magnetic Fields, Spoon, and so many others are endlessly downloaded into my iPod, drunkenly grabbed on melancholy work nights, and burned into mix CDs for comrades that I need them close by whenever.

And now there's a luscious fat trade paperback tribute book from Algonquin that has a ton of art, photos, obscure record covers, scraps of visual history, and a lot of really cool and funny anecdotes and observations of the label throughout its two decade lifetime. Chapters include "Death Chick and The Cave Man: 1987-1989," "Signals That Sound In The Dark: Neutral Milk Hotel," "The Book of Love: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields," "The Decline of Country and Western Civilization: Lambchop," all kicked off by an outrageous drool-intro by Ryan Adams.

Label fan books have been declining since print has been "dying," though Brian J. Barr recently left his position as music editor at the Seattle Weekly to scribe one for Sub Pop (!), though high quality ones have never been ubiquitous in the first place. Cook, who is a reporter with Gawker Media, is a lucky man, who had a truly legendary label to chronicle, and his editing of oral histories from excellent convesationalists involved with or on the label is superb.

Which raises the question, what label would you like to write and/or design an extensive fan book for?

Warning: This is an ecstatic early plug for the upcoming fan-dream book, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label that Got Big and Stayed Small.